RAW Is Blogged – Sweet Beans, Tuna Casserole & A Fainting Goat

I’m writing this as I’m watching Total Divas with Sam. Sam is all about the blood and gore, so she loved watching Cena’s surgery, then Jey Usos’ toe bleeding all over the place. She’s a strange child, but I think this was her favorite episode of the show because of all the blood and gore. I did skip through certain parts of the show that she didn’t need to see at ten. She asked why I wouldn’t let her watch these parts, and was really pushing, so I told her it was a little too much sex for her at this age, and she was fine with. I just didn’t think that Sam needed to see Nikki’s toys, or her dressed up in her little outfit for Cena. This is the first time I’m glad that I watched the show before she did, but normally I’m fine with all they do on the show, even Brie-Mode. She knows people drink, and this is a safe way for her to see people she’s followed for a while, and know that they’re not always perfect.

Honestly, the best part of Total Divas for me was Sam yelling at Eva Marie. “It’s Jinder, not Jinger! It’s not that hard! Jinder! Jinder! Jinder!” She also had me walk her through announcing that match a couple times, just so she could prove to herself that she could do a better job than Eva Marie. Sam’s growing up and learning to love the wrestling industry beyond being a casual fan, but she’s also learning not to suffer fools. She’s not at all impressed with Summer Rae with Fandango, and wasn’t at all impressed with Eva Marie forgetting Jinder Mahal’s name. Sam asked me why Eva Marie is still with the WWE, and all I can think is because of the controversy she’s bringing to Total Divas.

RAW Starts

In Ring Segment > B-

For me, this segment was rather blah. Everyone was decent, but I guess I was expecting more from everyone, especially after Steph and Trip were off RAW last week. Orton was a bit stronger, less robotic, but still not enough to save the segment. I was surprised that Maddox got some pop from the fans, but I guess the abuse he’s been taking from The Authority has been helping his cause, and that he looks like a scared and confused little boy can’t hurt his cause. I loved the way Kane came out and kept Maddox from fleeing, but still not enough to save the segment.

Maddox vs Orton > B

Obviously there was no way that Maddox was going to win this match, but I have to give them points for creativity. The two of them worked the match well, but didn’t go too over the top. I liked that the match was stopped, rather than Orton getting the pinfall or submission. It shows his stop at nothing attitude toward his ring work right now, and quite in character for Orton right now.

Winner – Orton (3:57)

Backstage Segment > B+

Vickie is one who can sell better than so many, and by not saying a word. The look on her face as Maddox was rolled by was fantastic.

IC Title Match > B

I really enjoyed this match. I’m becoming more and excited about Big E and the direction he’s going in the WWE. I think it was pretty much a given that Big E was going to be winning this match. As soon as it was announced, I knew he would be winning and becoming the newest IC Champ. The sweetest part of it all was the way Big E was trying to pose with the IC Title after the match. He was so in awe of the belt that he couldn’t actually pose on the corner. He was so adorable.

Today on Ask WNW Richard said he didn’t like to predict who would be the next Austin or Hogan, but I would like to make one prediction. First off, we all know that I will put it right out there and predict some of the wonkiest things, but I am willing to go out on a limb and predict that we will be seeing Big E and Roman Reigns in a feud for one of the big titles within five years. Honestly, I don’t think that’s too big of a stretch to predict these two in a big Championship feud, but we really don’t know what will happen with either of them going forward.

Winner & new IC Champ (8:54)

Backstage Segment > B+

That it was Reigns who answered Orton here is what helped push my thoughts of Big E and Reigns in a big Championship feud. Honestly, it was nice to see him doing the talking for the group. He has a fantastic voice, and a sexy charisma, and that makes me feel like a perv because he’s only a bit older than my daughter. I expect big things from Reigns.

Divas Musical Chairs > F-

Ugh! I’m so disgusted with the WWE! Why? Just, why? There’s other ways to set up matches for PPVs, and honestly, that they’re setting up a Traditional Survivor Series Match with the Divas disgusts me in huge ways.

Big Show vs Ryback > B-

I might shock some, but I wasn’t mortified by this match. Obviously there was a few serious issues, the biggest being that Big Show had to talk to Ryback so much through it all. There were a number of moves that looked good in this match, and Big Show sold really well, but there was also a couple of of crappy moves, and Big Show’s boogers tweaked me out in a huge way. I’m not very good with other peoples’ bodily fluids.

Winner – Big Show (8:00)

Backstage Segment > C+

I have to say that 3MB sounded better singing than I expected. I’m loving this whole changing music types and personalities that they doing right now. I think it’s so much better than letting them just duff around the way they were.

Backstage Segment > B

Wow, Orton threw quite the little hissy! Better than being a robot!

The Real Americans vs Kofi & Miz > B-

I didn’t think Miz was actually going to be turning heel because of a movie he has coming out this holiday season, but I guess they’ve decided that it was time to turn him and went with it. I actually enjoyed watching Miz short arm Kofi, and his facial expressions were wonderful. Miz is so much better at being a heel, so it makes sense to turn him, I just hope it doesn’t kill sales for his movie… Okay, I couldn’t even type that with a straight face. Like any of us think Miz’s movie is going to do any better or any worse because he’s turning heel. Besides, it’s an ABC Family movie, so it’s not like this could kill things at the box office. I will say that since it’s a ‘made for TV movie’ that I’m actually much more apt to actually watch it, and it could be kind of cute.

Winner – The Real Americans (4:45)

Backstage Segment > C-

All the greatness Vickie had when Maddox was wheel by went out the window with terrible over-acting. So good, and then so bad!

Vickie vs AJ > D+

They weren’t a little obvious ribbing AJ for fainting on their most recent tour, were they? I was a bit oblivious myself, but I wasn’t thinking in that direction while I was watching. I’m sure I would have figured it out before I started writing this, but I have to thank Jesse for mentioning it last night when we were discussion what dirty boys they all were in the OTP during this match. Vickie tapping out on AJ’s ass brought about all sorts of spanking comments, which I’m shocked haven’t come up before as the easiest spot to tap out to the black widow is on AJ’s ass.

Winner – AJ (1:31)

Backstage Segment > B

Ziggler and Sandow played things off really well facially, but it was Trip announcing the match, then stating that he had absolutely no clue what it meant that about had me on the floor laughing.

Broadway Brawl > B+

I was quite impressed with both Ziggler and Sandow’s work in this match. They’re both really strong competitors, and they handled what could have been a silly mess in a very serious and professional way. Okay, so Ziggler got a bit silly with the drums at the end, but how can you not get a bit silly with drums in a match. I was actually quite impressed with their work, but Ziggler usually impresses me, and Sandow’s new lease on life is really great. I normally am against wrestlers in all black ring gear, but on Sandow it works, and it works because of the funky colors he used to wear before his change in personality. Another smart clothing change in the WWE.

Winner – Ziggler (10:50)

Backstage Segments > B

I am grouping both The Authority and Orton segments together here because they really need to go together. I loved that Steph left Orton hanging, not sure if they had faith in him. That was beautiful, and then the way they tied it up was stellar. So they have complete faith in Orton, but he has to prove himself without at help at Survivor Series. Makes sense to me.

In Ring Segment > B+

Haters will hate, but I think this is one of Cena’s best segments on mic in a long time. He took a highly mixed crowd, and proceeded to get the majority of them behind him. He had passion, heart, creativity, and a level of spunk we haven’t seen from him in a while. Cena wasn’t cookie cutter and corny, he was strong and eloquent. He got the fans behind him so that they would hate ADR that much more in this segment. Not saying that part worked, but Cena was great, and I didn’t hear the groan of loathing that ADR’s music brought about last week on RAW.

Honestly, if it had been all Cena, I’d have given this segment an A-, and him pulling ADR in with that sling and they way he so gracefully threw it off and showed ADR that he’s not the goody-goody that ADR thinks of him, almost brought the segment back up to an A-. I’m not saying that I’m over all of the Cena corniness, but I can appreciate when he’s done good, and it seems like heading home to Boston has brought out the best in him.

Rhinestone Cowboys vs Xavier Woods & R-Truth > B

Truth And Consequences are back together! I will say that Xavier has come so far from that 19 year old boy who really didn’t have much of a clue. In TNA he showed promise, but the 70s lounge lizard we saw in the ring last night is so far removed from that boy (only two months older than my oldest) who used to bounce around the six sided ring in red, white and blue. While his looks give me flashbacks to the 70s, I will say he’s playing his character full on. Austin Watson doesn’t have to worry about me saying he’s not playing his character to his tippie-tippes, though he does have to worry about me saying that he needs to slow things down a bit. I know it was his first big match on WWE TV, and he was excited, so now it’s time for him to slow things down a tiny bit and he’ll be golden. With R-Truth by his side, things could be looking bright for Xavier Woods.

Winners – R-Truth & Xavier Woods (3:26)

Florida Georgia Line

I’m not going to grade their performances, as that’s not what I’m here to do, and I willfully admit that I was behind on time during the RAW Live Results and skipped the performance to catch up on time.

12 Man Tag Match > A-

I really enjoyed this match. I have bitched and moaned a lot through the years about too many wrestlers in specific tag matches, but this one was great for a number of reasons. First off, all twelve men in this match are over like rover and hitting things hard lately. Then there was the booking. They started slow, worked back and forth, made things look good, but then going into the first commercial there was some serious problems between the two heel teams working together. They left us on a cliffhanger going into commercial – smart.

Cody took a lot of abuse after the first set of commercials, then Bryan tagged in and looked great briefly, but the new-found alliance was too much for him to handle himself. Going into the second set of commercials, Bray was cackling, and working it hard.

Bryan fought back well, and managed to hold things together and make it look good – something he’s struggled with the past couple weeks. Punk, who the fans had been wanting through the entire match made the hot tag and everyone started working hard and fast. The end of this match was an absolute blast, and while ridiculous to try to write, jaw dropping and entertaining to watch. The chemistry and psychology in this match was fabby, and something I wasn’t expecting from such a match, but I should have realized it would be there because of the names in the match.

Winners – Punk, Bryan, Usos, Cody & Goldust (24:15)

Rey! > A-

I’m worried about Rey’s return to the ring, especially if what I was reading about him limping after was true. I love Rey, and I have loved Rey since I started watching him in WCW. He’s always impressed me, and is a natural face that almost everyone loves, but if he shouldn’t be back in the ring, then he shouldn’t be back in the ring. Okay, I’ve said my peace with that, and I have to admit that I fully marked out when Rey came out to the ring. Having Rey back is great, and I’m so excited that he’s going to be working Survivor Series with the Usos, Cody and Goldust. I could be wrong, but I just did a bit of research, and I can’t see any point that Rey and Goldust worked together prior to this. Anyone can prove me wrong gets huge props in next week’s RIB.

Post Show

There’s so much talk about the bygone Attitude Era in the WWF, but I will admit that we forget about a lot of the bad things. This episode of RAW showed us a couple of those bad things, but in a slightly better light. First off was Vickie’s silliness and overly dramatic acting during her match with AJ. Then there’s Divas Musical Chairs, something we saw too many times back then. And, to round off the AE flashback, a silly gimmick match. Honestly, I was quite impressed with the way the WWE has grown, in that they used some of these things from the past, but they came off so much better than they did back in the AE.

I have to give props to K1NG, Danny Phillipi and my buddy Ed Smith for the RIB title this week. One of the announcers came out with the first two, and then someone in the OTP called Vickie the last when she kept passing out. I will admit that I struggle finding titles for some of these, and Jesse has helped me quite a bit, in the past, but he passed on the title from our lovely commenters.

Connect With WNW

2 things for this, great to see big E win the title, Watching the interview after his match you could tell it was so special for him so its great to see.

Also its always great to see Rey, was stocked to see that and popped more than the crowd when it happened

cjenks609

Wow, how did I not even realize the fainting was an AJ rib?!?!

EXTREMEWAFFLZ

For some reason I knew there would be a divas survivor series match. I just wish that it was 5 on 5 instead of 7 on 7. I would not let Eva and jojo compeat on ppv just yet. As for the other team I say get rid of kaitlyn unless they are going to either A: turn heel or B: turn on her own team. She can’t be face and also on that team

Also I would like to add, where the fire truck was Kidd?! He was on a good run with fandango and they just killed it, unless I missed something. I really hope they keep it up on smackdown, I really like Kidd and fandango and I don’t want them to be buried

Anand Vijayakumar

I just hope the match is more than 10 or 15 min long. The time can definitely be used by guys like punk/bryan/big e or any other wrestler for that matter instead of watching Alicia Fox or other rookie divas perform a botchamania…

David Jr.

Not only do I agree with you about Big E. Langston and Roman Reigns, I could see them go the same path as John Cena and Batista. Win the World and WWE Titles at the Same wrestlemania, then a few years later face off for the WWE Championshp at Wrestlemania.

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